As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
